The Zephyr system was sold to EADS Astrium (now Airbus Defence and Space) in March 2013 where it was successfully re-flown as part of the High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) programme In 2014 it flew for 11 days in winter, and later near civilian airspace.

* Zephyr is a series of lightweight solar-powered UAV originally designed and built in 2003 by the British company QinetiQ.

In November 2015, in the House of Commons, British prime minister David Cameron laid out plans during the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, to further enhance Great Britain's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capacity.

The development of the aircraft is ongoing and currently part of the Airbus High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) programme.

Airbus Zephyr was designed to fly at a maximum height of altitude 21.336 kilometres (70 000 feet), and in a 2006 flight, was airborne for 80 hours, which was then was the longest flight made by a HALE vehicle.

The Zephyr system was sold to EADS Astrium (now Airbus Defence and Space) in March 2013 where it was successfully re-flown as part of the High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) programme In 2014 it flew for 11 days in winter, and later near civilian airspace.

In November 2015, in the House of Commons, British prime minister David Cameron laid out plans during the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, to further enhance Great Britain's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capacity.

In November 2015, in the House of Commons, British prime minister David Cameron laid out plans during the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, to further enhance Great Britain's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capacity.

In November 2015, in the House of Commons, British prime minister David Cameron laid out plans during the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, to further enhance Great Britain's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capacity.

In the speech, he stated that the UK was to field a 'British-designed unmanned aircraft that will fly at the edge of the earth's atmosphere and allow us to monitor our adversaries for weeks on end, providing critical intelligence for our armed forces." A purchase of two Zephyr-8's was reported in February 2016. The British Ministry of Defence later confirmed the purchase of a third Zephyr 8 platform.